First of all I will say we both loved the cruise! I'm not a great writer so please bear with me as I explain the good and the bad of our trip.

Boarding the ship was a breeze, although it took us awhile to find our way around.

The first night we enjoyed the Lido deck and the sail away party. We tried the guys burgers and the first time around they were very good.

We went to the Blue Lagoon in Nassau which was very nice. I didnt care much for the port area though as I thought it was rather dirty and run down. That night we went to the Diamond Steak House and I will say it is WELL worth the extra money!!

Our first day at sea we spent relaxing for the most part. I really enjoyed the balcony and used it alot.

St. Thomas was beautiful and we actually experienced the ship take off and then re-dock to pick a group up.(This is what I had heard anyways. I know we did start to leave and then stopped and pulled back alone the pier)

In San Juan we visited the rain forest and the fort but overall we werent real impressed with this stop as it wasnt that "special" they have all the same stores and shops that we have here in the states.

Grand Turk was also alot of fun and my personal favorite. We ended up going deep sea fishing, the water was rough 6-8' seas and we were in a 36' fishing boat. I ended up being the first one to catch a fish which took 10 min to real in. I kept on realing but I couldnt get any line to come in, well finally I got my fish in and found out why it was so tough. I had hooked a yellow finned tuna and at some point the fishing guide figures a black tip shark saw the chance for a easy dinner and latched onto my fish. I was trying to drag both of them into the boat until the shark bit my tuna in half!. Fishing was a success for everyone on board as they all got a chance to catch one.

Overall we had a great time. The food was average at best IMO except for the diamond steak house which was superb. Everyone was nice and always had smiles on their faces. I also wish that the shows lasted more than 30-45 min. I understand they have alot of people who want to see the show but when you plan your evening around seeing a comedian only to find out its only a 30 min set its a little dissapointing.

Snorkeling is supposed to be top notch at Grand Turk. They have a shelf where the water depth goes from fairly shallow to 6000'. This is where alot of cool fish gather to feed from what I have read. The beaches also looked very nice and there were quite a few shops if you are into shopping. It's worth stopping at at least once.

Welcome home, & glad to see you are wanting to plan another cruise. Grand Turks is one of the jewels of the Caribbean with that gorgeous water! I am drooling!

I'm surprised about San Juan, though. We have taken an island tour there,and enjoyed seeing some offbeat areas, & shopping on Forteleza St. other then them having Marshalls, which somehow shocked me, I thought they had a nice variety of shops.

We really didnt get a chance to go explore the city and its shopping. We took a tour bus from the port to the rain forest and then back again to the fort. I'm sure San Juan has its treasures but from what we saw it wouldnt bother us if we made another stop there or not. The cruise was labeled as "exotic" and in our opinion that stop wasnt very exotic. I think we are going to look at an alaskan cruise next. I'm not sure if we will go through Carnival or another cruise line though. I will have to do some research to see which cruise line offers the "best cruise" (for us) to that area.